The Elegoo Mars: The new guy in town
After my MarkBot Replicator 2 and 2x (both Fused Deposition Modelling printers), I now have a new 3d printer - but this time a Digital Light Processing (DLP) printer.
A DLP printer is something completely different from a FDM printer, because here, plastic is not melted and stacked on top of each other like with a hot glue gun, but a 3D printer, where UV light is used to cure a reacting resin layer by layer.
The synthetic resin (called resin) is slightly toxic and must be treated with special care, only with appropriate protective clothing (mainly gloves, breathing mask and safety glasses) and alcohol to dissolve the liquid resin.
Why put yourself under such stress? Because this method allows very high resolution prints even in a very, very small size.
Here you can see an example of my first print with this amazing device, including size comparison. The coin is a normal Eurocent to show the size of the Minions. You already know the model on this page: It is the Wedding Cake Minions... only much, much smaller. (and no, the printer in the background did not print these Minions ;))
I will soon report more about this 3d printer, but I can only say: It complements the FDM printers, which are particularly suitable for larger, resistant and functional parts, with the possibility of very filigree, high-resolution 3d printing.